During July 2019, Pastor David went on a preaching trip with four other Primitive Baptist ministers to Kenya. Below are sermons and singing from the worship services in Kenya during that time.
Author: Pastor David Page 49 of 57
“And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.” (2 Thess. 3:5)
God providentially leads, guides, and directs his children every single day. However, God is not abstract or flippant in the direction that he will guide our hearts. Here we are taught that God will direct our hearts unto two conditions that are vital for the child of God: into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.
These messages were delivered by Pastor David on the Gospel of Grace Radio Broadcast from February to June 2019. There are multiple types of love addressed in the New Testament Greek scriptures, with the primary two being “phileo” (a brotherly affection) and then “agage” (a self-sacrifical love). The Greek word for love “agape” is oftentimes (but not always) translated in our KJV bibles as “charity”. This “agape love” can be defined as “a willing, sacrificial giving of one’s self for the benefit of another without the thought of return”. Christ exhibited this willing sacrificial agape love in sacrificing himself for our sins, not based upon any condition we would meet, but based solely upon his free and sovereign grace. Therefore, because of the amazing agape love that God has exhibited upon us, God now calls us to exhibit that same self-sacrificing agape love in our lives – to love others unconditionally and sacrifice for their benefit without the thought of return.
My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise.” (Psalm 57:7)
King David was on the run as he penned these words. We know from the notation at the beginning of this Psalm that this was penned as David was fleeing from Saul for his life and hiding in a cave. In spite of such a difficult and challenging situation around him in his circumstances, David did not let that calamity get down into his heart. His heart was still fixed firmly upon the Lord, trusting in his mercy and providence.
“In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.” (Ecclesiastes 7:14)
One hymn we grew up singing in the church begins with this line, “Mixtures of joy and sorrow, I daily do pass through.” That is the reality of being citizens of a heavenly country passing through a foreign land, a world that’s filled with sin and sorrow. It’s inevitable in this life for us to experience great joy in the days of prosperity, but those good days are always tempered and closely followed with the days of adversity, as Solomon had fully experienced in his life. However, the final result of these contrasting highs and lows in the Christian’s life are “to this end” – that “God also that set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him”.
This message is so timely and appropriate for such a time as this in America. Elder David Crawford delivers this challenging and convicting charge to the church of God regarding abortion and the sanctity of innocent life – please take 48 minutes out of your day to listen to this charge for our responsibility in this crucially important issue in our culture today.
Click here to access sermon in a new window – The Sanctity of Life, Elder David Crawford
“Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79)
As Zacharias begins to conclude his prophecy of Christ and then of his son, John the Baptist’s role in the gospel, he introduces Jesus as the “dayspring from on high” come down to visit us. Christ’s first advent was certainly the dawning of a new ray of light for the Jewish community of his day, but in a much more broad sense, Jesus and the light of the good news of the gospel is a light in a dark place for the children of God.
“And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will.” (Acts 13:22)
In the midst of Paul’s sermon here in Acts 13, he describes the former king of Israel, David, in a very unique way – as a man after God’s own heart. What distinguished King David as a man after God’s own heart? It was his commitment to fulfill all the will of God. It should be our desire as well to be men and women after God’s own heart by submitting to and following the will of God in our lives.
From November 2018 to February 2019, on Wednesday nights Pastor David preached through the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians. This chapter gives us the most in-depth vision of the resurrection of the dead in the New Testament and strengthens our hope looking towards the second coming and the resurrrection at the last day.